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Mathematical Induction&

هخخع

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6 views18 pages

Mathematical Induction&

هخخع

Uploaded by

ebrahimnight39
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Mathematical induction

Induction Fundamentals: We explain induction (or just induction a


powerful proof technique called for short). To motivate the discussion,
mathematical let’s first examine the kinds of statements that induction
is used to prove. Consider the following statement. Conjecture. The
sum of the first 𝑛 odd natural numbers equal 𝑛2 . The following table
illustrates what this conjecture says. Each row is headed by a natural
number 𝑛, followed by the sum of the first 𝑛 odd natural numbers,
followed by 𝑛2 .
Note that in the first five lines of the table, the sum of the first 𝑛 odd
numbers really do add up to 𝑛2 . Notice also that these first five lines
indicate that the nth odd natural number (the last number in each sum)
is 2𝑛 − 1. (For instance, when 𝑛 = 2, the second odd natural number is
2.2 − 1 = 3; when 𝑛 = 3, the third odd natural number is 2.3 − 1 = 5,
etc.) The table raises a question. Does the sum 1 + 3 + 5 + 7 + ⋯ +
(2𝑛 − 1) always equal 𝑛2 ? In other words, is the conjecture true? Let’s
rephrase this as follows. For each natural number 𝑛 (i.e., for each line of
the table), we have a statement 𝑆𝑛 , as follows:
Outline for Proof by Induction
Proposition: the statements 𝑆1 , 𝑆2 , 𝑆3 , 𝑆4 , … are all true.
Proof: (Induction)

1. Prove that the first statement 𝑆1 is true.

2. Given any integer 𝑘 ≥ 1, prove that the statement 𝑆𝑘 →


𝑆𝑘+1 is true.
It follows by mathematical induction that every 𝑆𝑛 is true.
In this setup, the first step (1) is called the basis step.
Because 𝑆1 is usually a very simple statement, the basis step
is often quite easy to do. The second step (2) is called the
inductive step. In the inductive step direct proof is most often
used to prove 𝑆𝑘 → 𝑆𝑘+1 so this step is usually carried out by
assuming 𝑆𝑘 is true and showing these forces 𝑆𝑘+1 to be true.
The assumption that 𝑆𝑘 is true is called the inductive
hypothesis.
In induction proofs it is usually the case that the first
statement 𝑺𝟏 is indexed by the natural number 1, but this
need not always be so. Depending on the problem, the first
statement could be 𝑺𝟎 , or 𝑺𝒎 for any other integer 𝒎.

In the next example the statements are 𝑺𝟎 , 𝑺𝟏 , 𝑺𝟐 , 𝑺𝟑 , . . . The


same outline is used, except that the basis step verifies 𝑺𝟎 ,
not 𝑺𝟏 .
Thank you

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